Posts Tagged: Mediterranean Fruit Fly

The Medfly 'Through the Decades': Tune in to Hear Professor Carey on July 3

Remember when scientists first detected the Mediterranean fruit fly in California? It was the early 1980s. The invasive insect, better known as the...

Distinguished Professor James R. Carey is known for his outstanding research, outreach and advocacy program involving invasion biology, specifically the Mediterranean Fruit Fly (medfly) and the Light Brown Apple Moth (LBAM). (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

Distinguished Professor James R. Carey is known for his outstanding research, outreach and advocacy program involving invasion biology, specifically the Mediterranean Fruit Fly (medfly) and the Light Brown Apple Moth (LBAM). (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

Of Medflies and Light Brown Apple Moths

Congratulations to James R. Carey, distinguished professor of entomology at the UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology for his public...

UC Davis Distinguished Professor James R. Carey with some of the maps he used in his research. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

UC Davis Distinguished Professor James R. Carey with some of the maps he used in his research. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

Medflies: Permanent Residents

Breaking news shook the agricultural world today. The Mediterranean fruit fly, considered the world's worst agricultural pest, is one of at least...

Mediterranean Fruit Fly. (Photo by Jack Kelly Clark)

Mediterranean Fruit Fly. (Photo by Jack Kelly Clark)

The Invasion of Tropical Fruit Flies

From a trickle to a flood. But why? Professor James R. Carey of the UC Davis Department of Entomology will tell you why. He will discuss the...

Mediterranean Fruit Fly. (Photo by Jack Kelly Clark)

Mediterranean Fruit Fly. (Photo by Jack Kelly Clark)

One quarantine lifted, another imposed

CDFA announced in a news release yesterday that five Asian citrus psyllids were found in the Orange County community of Santa Ana, triggering the first ACP quarantine north of San Diego and Imperial counties.

The northward movement of the psyllid may raise fears of the state's citrus growers, but there is also some good news about the effectiveness of state-sponsored pest eradication programs. CDFA announced in another news release yesterday that a Mediterranean fruit fly infestation San Diego's Spring Valley has been eradicated.

To eradicate the pest, ag officials released nearly 3 million sterile male Medflies over an 11.2 square-mile zone at the core of the quarantine area. Fertile female flies mate with the sterile males but produce no offspring, eventually eradicating the pest. 

Medflies can infest over 260 types of fruits and vegetables, threatening California’s crops and exports as well as urban and suburban landscaping and gardens.

CDFA said the new ACP quarantine in Orange County will restrict movement of plant material at wholesale and retail nurseries within five miles of the find site. In addition, the agency is planning a treatment program and monitoring the area to detect additional psyllids.

USDA's ACP map shows where the pest has been found.

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